


ten moments that led to this

by Skyson



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Coulson also loves pancakes, Coulson loves Skye, F/M, Friendship/Love, Project Caterpillar, Secrets, Skye driving Lola, Skye loves Coulson
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-03
Updated: 2015-06-03
Packaged: 2018-04-02 18:03:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4069459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skyson/pseuds/Skyson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just ten moments picked out of a hat, leading to this point where Hunter finds them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	ten moments that led to this

**Author's Note:**

> A friend prompted me to do a numbered fic, and chose ten because he knew that would be more challenging for me... It helped get the writing juices flowing, so I appreciated it. Decided to share the result with you guys.

_1._

Skye sat in his office, swinging her foot to the beat of the music as she typed away at the laptop propped on her knees.

She'd just finished working out with May (which was still pretty awkward; they never talked much before, but now the silences were heavy and uncomfortable), and she had made herself a cup of coffee before trekking up the stairs toward Coulson's office. She knew he wouldn't be in yet; his mornings were a little later now that he needed Koenig's assistance with his suits and whatnot. They never talked about it, but Skye knew Coulson loathed having to depend on someone for such trivial things, now.

Coffee was okay, though, so she would bring up a cup for him as well, and leave it on his desk for him in one of those fancy mugs that kept it warm for a long time.

She'd been doing some research behind a suspected Inhuman, and was so focused that she didn't notice him come in.

"Chicago?" She jumped, looking up to find him standing by his record player. "I didn't think I had any Chicago," He picked up the record sleeve, inspecting it.

"There's a few thrift stores around Cal's place. We went hunting one day, and I found it. I like Chicago." She shrugged. When he still looked thoughtful, she added, "We can change it if you'd like, I just had it on while I was - "

"No, no, I like Chicago too." He assured her, putting the record sleeve back before moving toward his desk and picking up his coffee mug, taking a careful sip. "Thanks for the coffee."

She nodded and smiled, then turned her attention back to her laptop. He thanked her every morning, regardless how long the mug had been sitting before he arrived.

"Skye, if you ever find some records you're interested in, don't hesitate to buy them. You can come in here and listen to the player any time." Coulson told her, and she looked up at him again. He was sitting behind his desk, moving some things around to make space.

"Lola _and_ the record player? Wow, AC, what's next? I get to play with the model Bus?" Skye teased, and he gave her a look.

"My stuff in here aren't _toys_ ," He said pointedly, and she grinned.

"I know. Just kidding around," She said, and he leaned his head to the side slightly. She raised her eyebrow. "What?"

"You called me AC. You haven't done that in..." He stopped talking, looking far off somewhere.

"It's been a while." She admitted, a little embarrassed. "Sorry. Old habit, I guess. Sitting in here all the time, like we used to do in the Bus..."

"I miss my plane." He said mournfully, and looked down at himself. "I miss a lot of things..." He trailed off, chagrined that he'd said something like that in front of someone.

"It's okay to miss things, Coulson. I miss a lot of things, too." Skye said, keeping her tone neutral.

"I shouldn't be complaining," He chuckled ruefully, "you went through so much more than I did."

"Hey," Skye chided him carefully, "we all went through a lot of crap. No one's pain is more important than anyone else's. If we really want to be rating people's hurting level, I think Bobbi should get top notch." Coulson winced, and rubbed his fingers across the bridge of his nose.

"Dammit, I really need to do something about Ward." He sighed, and Skye nodded.

"Yeah. But let's wait until Bobbi's healed a little more, okay? I think she's gonna want a crack at him."

"She's not the only one," Coulson said dryly, and Skye nodded again. "Why did you stop calling me AC?" Coulson wondered, the back-step in conversation throwing Skye for a moment.

"Um... well, you became Director, for one. DC sounds way too government-y." Skye frowned, wrinkling her nose. Coulson snorted lightly.

"What, I'm not _government-y_ enough?" He snarked.

"You're too _cool_ for a government name." Skye spoke as if that were obvious, and he raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"You still think I'm cool?" He wondered a little quietly, sounding a bit too concerned for her answer.

"The coolest." She said firmly, and then focused back on her laptop. He was quiet for a while, but eventually she heard the shuffle of paper that told her he had started going through some of the files piled on his desk. She smiled to herself.

 

 

_2._

**_I told you I joined the side of angels._ **

Skye gasped awake, sitting up in her bed and looking around her room for the intruder. Her room was empty, however, and she brushed her bangs up off of her forehead, letting out a breath.

Raina had been haunting her dreams for the past three nights, sometimes a silent entity standing off to the side, sometimes whispering things that Skye never remembered in the morning. Tonight, she'd sounded like she was sitting right next to Skye's bed, her voice echoing through the dark room as Skye's pulse slowed.

"Water," Skye muttered, getting to her feet and padding out into the hallway. It was still early enough that only the emergency lights were on. The floor was a little cold on her bare feet, but she planned on getting a glass of water and coming straight back to bed.

She wasn't planning on finding Coulson in the darkened kitchen, stretching his hand up to reach a glass from the shelf. She took in his form without exactly meaning to; he was wearing lose pants and a dark t-shirt, and his wrapped arm was not currently held up in a sling. He had never allowed her (or anyone else other than Simmons and Koenig, as far as she knew) to see him without the sling, and she felt a little bad, like she was imposing. Even if they were in an area of the base everyone frequented.

She knocked lightly on the frame of the entryway, trying to announce her presence without startling him. He jumped anyway, of course, turning around quickly to see who was there.

"Sorry," She said quietly, wondering why she was whispering. It wasn't like they would wake anyone; the kitchen was too far from the quarters. "Just wanted a glass of water."

He relaxed immediately, looking a little embarrassed that he had been surprised, and turned back toward the cabinet, pulling down two glasses. His shirt rode up a little as he reached up, and Skye quickly moved her eyes to a safer spot as she entered the room, leaning against the counter at the sink.

"Me too," he supplied, passing her a glass. She nodded her thanks and turned to fill it up, reaching over blindly for his glass as well. "Thanks," he said, leaning against the counter next to her, shifting so his body hid the stubbed end of his arm from her. She wished he wouldn't feel the need to hide from her, but she didn't say anything. "Bad dreams?" He asked carefully, taking his glass from her.

"Um," She took a long drink from her glass, wondering how to explain it to him. He took her hesitation as uncomfortableness, and made a disappointed noise in the back of his throat.

"I'm an idiot, that was a stupid question to ask. It's not my business. I'm sorry." He apologized sincerely, and Skye rested her hand on his arm.

"It's not that I don't want to tell you," She assured him. "I'm just not sure if I can explain it... but yes, it's dreams." He relaxed a little, and she let her hand fall back to her side as he raised his glass to take another drink.

"I have dreams like that too," He said quietly, and after a beat, she leaned her shoulder against his. They stood together in companionable silence until both of their glasses empty.

 

 

_3._

Through a lot of PT and medication, Bobbi was able to get herself vertical enough to use a pair of crutches. She still had a long way to go, but this was a huge step, so they celebrated in the lounge that evening with some beers.

"It's good to see you up and about," Skye said warmly, feeling a little guilty that she hadn't visited Bobbi much while she was in the recovery room. Skye still didn't feel comfortable in that room, and besides that, it always felt like an imposition on Hunter's time with her. Bobbi didn't seem to hold it against Skye, though, and leaned carefully on one crutch to hold her arm out for a hug.

"It's good to see you back home," Bobbi said with a genuine smile, and Skye smiled back, relaxing and hugging her carefully. She then helped Bobbi onto the couch next to Hunter, taking the crutches and propping them up on the wall nearby. Hunter wrapped his arm around Bobbi immediately and handed her a bottle of water.

"No alcohol for you right now, love." He said, and Bobbi sighed, taking the water from him.

"I appreciate these pain meds, but I'll be happy when I can have a drink, again." She complained lightly, and Mack winced after taking a sip of his beer.

"You won't be if it's _this_ stuff you're drinking," He replied, and Hunter looked insulted.

"Hey, this is good stuff!" He argued.

Laughing, Skye looked up to see Coulson leaning against the frame of the entryway, his hand tucked into his pocket. He was still wearing his suit, but the tie was pulled a little lose and his collar unbuttoned. His eyes lit up when he made eye contact with Skye, and she smiled softly. He looked pleased to be standing there watching his team, so she didn't try to get him to join them.

"So, have you kicked her ass, yet?" Bobbi said to May, drawing Skye's attention. May snorted lightly and rolled her eyes toward Skye.

"I've been kicking her ass every morning since we've been back." May promised, and Skye pursed her lips and looked down at her lap, hiding her smirk. May was smirking too, though, which made Skye feel a little more relieved. She didn't deserve May's forgiveness at all, but she was happy her S.O. offered it.

They had finally talked about it a few days ago, and May had admitted that while she had been pretty pissed, she had understood Skye's position. Skye apologized profusely, anyway, and refused to use her powers for any advantage as they sparred. Eventually, the silences between them began to feel more relaxed, more friendly, and Skye worried less that May would kill her in her sleep.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and she flinched, looking up to see Coulson standing at the corner of the recliner she was curled up on. He squeezed her shoulder, not looking down at her, and she focused back on her beer, smiling.

\-----

She was helping Simmons clean up afterwards, both of them trying to ignore the hushed whispers between Coulson and May.

"If someone wouldn't _baby_ her so much, she'd be as confident as she was before,"

"I don't baby her!"

"Every damn day she sits in your office. Her computer skills are admirable and necessary, but when are you going to let her back out onto the field? She's an excellent field agent Coulson, and we could use her."

"I'm not _keeping_ her from - "

"Maybe _she_ doesn't know you're keeping her from working in the field, but you and I both do. You can't wrap her in a bubble and protect her from the world. She's already experienced just about the worst it can offer."

"Which is why she shouldn't have to experience any more of it," Coulson spoke darkly, and Skye looked at Simmons in surprise. Simmons was studiously avoiding her gaze, focusing very closely on wiping off the end table in the corner of the room.

"Has he been... did you know about this?" Skye wondered, and Simmons glanced at her, looking uncomfortable.

"It's... come to everyone's attention that he's been a bit... clingy?" Simmons finished lamely, and Skye raised her eyebrows.

" _Coulson's_ been clingy?" She whispered quickly, " _I'm_ the one who decides to work in his office in the morning, not him."

"Yes, but does he ever kick you out? Tell you to go check if any of us need your help? Not that we have - I would have asked you if I did - but I'm just saying... how many ops has he had May run, and not include you on the ground team?"

"I just figured he was being careful with May and I... even though we work out every morning together, we still weren't on speaking terms for a while." Skye argued lamely, wondering why she was arguing for Coulson. Simmons was quiet, and Skye frowned. "It's come to _everyone's_ attention?"

"Coulson, if she's not up there helping you, there are more things she could be doing."

"I don't _need help_."

"Phil,"

"Maybe I like having her around because she doesn't make everything about my missing hand. She never asks me if I need help with anything, she never assumes I can't do something, she never acts like she's walking on eggshells around me. She _looks_ at me, May. She looks me in the eyes. That's more than I can say for most people these days."

May was either quiet, or she had lowered her voice even more that Skye couldn't hear, and Skye was the one avoiding Simmons' gaze, now. She could feel the blush on her cheeks. She'd never known Coulson felt that way, but she was glad she was able to give him that.

"Once or twice a week, Coulson. That's all I ask."

"Skye's free to do what she pleases."

"Including visiting her father? What if she jars some memory, and he remembers who he was before?"

"That won't happen. The procedure was a complete success. He's happy where he is now, and he's happy to have a young visitor every now and then. I'm not taking Skye's father away from her. I had the chance to do so numerous times that day, and I didn't. He's a good man, Melinda, he's just a little...unbalanced."

".....Did something happen between the two of you? Last I heard, he wanted to kill you."

"We came to an understanding." Coulson sounded like he wanted to stop talking about the subject.

"About Skye," May realized, and Skye felt eyes on her back from across the room. She kept her head toward the box of empty beer bottles she was collecting.

"Goodnight, May. It's good to see the team together again." Coulson said, and his footsteps retreated out into the hall, eventually disappearing. The silence that followed was extremely awkward.

"Well, all done here," Simmons said too loudly, and Skye gave her a look. Simmons looked apologetic and then disappeared rather quickly, and May walked up next to Skye, putting two more empty bottles into the box.

"I know you heard that." May said, and Skye lifted her shoulder slightly.

"Most of it," She admitted, looking at May carefully. "Is that true? Has he been... I didn't know he was holding me back. He never said anything."

"Of course he didn't." May replied gently. "He doesn't want to admit it to himself that he needs people."

"Yeah, I've been getting that vibe, lately," Skye replied, hefting the box into her arms. May walked with her down the hall toward the kitchen.

"Don't feel like you need to be in there with him all the time. He's a grown man, Skye. Everything is different now, and some things are harder than they used to be, but he'll learn. He's always been good about adapting." May told her, and Skye nodded. May put her hand on Skye's shoulder for a moment before leaving her alone. As Skye set the box on the floor next to the kitchen counter, she looked toward the stairs that led to Coulson's office.

"What if I need him as much as he needs me?" Skye whispered.

 

 

_4._

Skye started spending more mornings with Bobbi, FitzSimmons, or Mack, but still always made Coulson a cup of coffee before going about her day. He never said anything about it, but she knew he appreciated it.

"Skye!" Simmons was very excited this morning, and Skye gave her a wide-eyed look.

"How much tea have you had this morning, Simmons?" Skye teased, and Simmons did look a little sheepish for a moment.

"Two cups... but that's not why I'm excited! Well, it's probably why I have so much energy,"

"Jemma," Fitz piped up from the corner, where he was digging through a pile of scrap.

"Right." Simmons took a deep breath in, released it, then held up two silver wrist bracelets. "This." Skye approached cautiously, and Simmons gestured toward the computer screen, as if that would appease Skye. "I modified some of the technology from those arm bands and created these. Where the arm bands had diminished your power entirely, _these_ should help you control it, and focus it, without diminishing any of the strength behind it - other than what you control, of course." Simmons explained, and Skye took one of the bracelets from her carefully.

"I've already gotten pretty good at controlling it, Simmons, and I've been continuing to train," Skye started, but Simmons shook her head and gestured with the other bracelet, slipping it over Skye's wrist only after Skye indicated it was okay.

"These will help you _focus_ it, perhaps on a very minute scale. I'd like to run some tests with them, of course, before we decide to use them in the field... That is, of course, if you're comfortable with them." Simmons said, and Skye rotated the band around in her hand before finally slipping it onto her other wrist.

"Well...it doesn't feel any different," Skye started, and Simmons looked relieved. "And that's already an improvement on the old model. I don't feel restricted at all."

"Excellent! If you don't mind wearing them around the base today, I'd like to see how they do during your daily activities. Just go about your day as normal, and let me know tomorrow morning if you've had any trouble or unusual occurrences." Simmons said, and Skye automatically nodded, then hesitated, and raised her eyebrow.

"Unusual occurrences?" Skye repeated, and Simmons waved her hand in the air.

"Shouldn't be a problem." Simmons assured her. "That's all I really needed, for now. Agent May asked me to send you her way once we were finished here. She needs some help with a case file, I think?" Simmons trailed off, becoming engrossed in whatever it was that Fitz had found and brought over to the counter. "What are you doing - don't put that next to the live cultures!"

"Sorry, sorry!" Fitz muttered, moving further down. Skye grinned, shaking her head as she left the lab. It was almost like old times, when she had first become a part of the team. Minus some lying murdering bastards, of course, and she didn't have a problem with that.

"See you guys later," Skye called out before walking down the hall toward May's office. May had never been in her office much before, but with the Bus being gone and more agents around using the training facilities, it was one of the few places left she could be alone. It was a good place to start looking for her, anyway.

Skye knocked on the partially-ajar door before entering. May looked up from the file in her hands, her expression relaxing a little when she saw it was Skye.

"Hey," Skye greeted, taking a step into the room, "Simmons said you needed me for something?"

"Yes, come take a look at this," May said, leaning forward in the chair and resting the file on her desk, turning it and pushing it toward Skye. Skye approached the desk and sat down in the chair across from her slowly, pulling the file closer as she scanned it.

"An Index file? Why does it look new, I thought the Index was ...." Skye trailed off when she realized who's Index file this was. "When did this happen?" She demanded, looking up at May.

"One of Gonzales' stipulations. Coulson agreed with the deal." May informed her.

"But he's _on the Index_. Anyone could find him now! Isn't he still supposed to be considered dead?" Skye wondered, not entirely sure why she was feeling so anxious about this. It wasn't like it directly affected her.

"That's why I need you. I could go in and change the dates around easily enough, but I'd leave a trail. I need you to fix the document for me, completely dark. It needs to look solid - it needs to _be_ solid." May explained, and Skye nodded. "Coulson has been a bit distracted for the past few weeks. He would have done anything to gain the advantage and get you out safely. And now, with his injury, I don't think he's considering the ramifications of his deal with Gonzales."

Skye was surprised to hear the lack of an accusatory tone behind May's words. May seemed to understand, and rolled her eyes.

"Everyone involved knew he was too preoccupied with you. Luckily, I happened to be on his side. For the most part."

"I... don't know what you mean." Skye started, a little uncomfortable with the way May was looking at her.

"Please look into his Index file? Bring the paper copy back to me once you've finished. You may need FitzSimmons to help you fix up the physical documents. I'm sure they've got a few tricks up their sleeves," May mused, focusing on her computer.

Skye sat there for a moment, still confused about May's words. May didn't say anything else to her however, so she stood and left, file in her hands. She scanned through it as she walked slowly through the halls, becoming immersed in what Gonzales (or his people) had written about Coulson.

It was clear that whatever had gone down while she was gone, they hadn't trusted Coulson an ounce. _Compromised_ was a common word to be found throughout the few pages in the folder, along with _suspicious_ and _secrets_. There was a notation about Project: TAHITI, but it led nowhere - most likely May's doing, thank God. She'd have to make sure the digital file didn't have any connections to TAHITI, as well.

And there it was, jumping out at her suddenly:

_Subject has concerning connections with a known Inhuman. Attachment reaches suspicious levels - may be connected through the serum. When topic is broached subject becomes single-minded and irate, making rash decisions and refusing counsel.  
**It is recommended subject be removed from any position of authority.** The Inhuman becomes priority, no matter what stakes are involved. The subject has already shown recklessness and seeming disregard for the lives of other Agents._

"Skye?" Coulson's voice pulled Skye out of the file in her hands, and she looked up, realizing that she had stopped in the middle of the hallway.

"Coulson," She swallowed, closing the file and tucking it under her arm. He looked at it questioningly, and when she didn't say anything, he looked back at her.

"Is everything okay? It's not the arm bands, is it? Simmons told me she was going to test them with you today..." He looked concerned, and she tried to relax.

"Oh, yeah, everything's fine. I actually forgot I had em on, for a minute there," Skye laughed lightly, holding her empty hand up and twisting her wrist so the silver glinted in the light. Coulson reached forward to touch it, spinning it around over her skin.

"Almost looks like the tracking band..." He murmured to himself, his fingers brushing against her skin. She pulled her arm back a little too quickly, and his lip twitched. He dropped his hand back to his side. "Sorry, guess those aren't the best memories," He apologized, and Skye followed his train of thought.

"Sorry, yeah, maybe not," She let out that obviously fake chuckle again, and mentally kicked herself. Coulson's brow furrowed a little.

"Did you find your mother's file?" He asked very softly, too softly, his face too open.

Of course he would recognize the folder as an Index file. Skye had the feeling that she and May should be keeping this on the down low, even from him, and she tapped her fingers over it, wondering what to tell him. She hated using his compassion like this, but it was better than getting into an argument over her obtaining his file.

She nodded shortly, looked down at her feet, clutched the file closer to her side. He made some sort of noise and suddenly his arm was around her shoulders, the sling tucked between their bodies. She held her breath for a moment, surprised.

"Take as long as you need," He whispered, squeezing her tighter for a second. When he pulled away, he kept his hand on top of her shoulder long enough to give her an encouraging smile, and then continued past her down the hallway, as if nothing out of the ordinary had just happened.

Skye blinked, looking straight ahead, still envisioning the expression she had seen in his eyes.

_Attachment reaches suspicious levels._

 

 

_5._

The initial tests with the bracelets had gone well, so Skye started wearing them in training sessions with May, working specifically on honing her powers further, and seeing just how concentrated of an effect she could produce.

"There was this one time, I did this thing with a gun..." Skye mentioned after target practice one day. May raised her eyebrow toward the younger agent, hesitating before putting her weapon away. "I think maybe choose one you wouldn't mind if it doesn't work after this," Skye suggested, and May switched out the rifle with one of the handguns.

"I'm sure you understand why I'm not going to hold it for you," May said dryly as she set the gun on the countertop, and Skye nodded, looking off to the side for a moment. While they were on much better terms now, Skye doubted May would ever let her live their fight down.

After May stepped away, Skye focused on the gun, holding her hand out toward it a little bit. Her brow furrowed, and the gun twitched a little, sliding a few inches across the counter. Skye's frown deepened and she shifted her stance, trying to imagine someone was holding that gun up, toward her or toward someone she cared about. Another second passed, and she relaxed, looking at May.

"Could you load it? Put a bullet in the chamber?" Skye asked, and May raised her eyebrow.

"Is that a good idea? I'd rather you not accidentally shoot yourself. Or worse, me." She said dryly, and Skye huffed.

"I have more control than that," She muttered, and May shrugged, but moved to get a full clip and load the gun. Once it was ready, she pointed the barrel away from them and stood out of the way.

"So, what's going to happen? Could you sense a weight difference, somehow, through your... ability?" May wondered. Skye heard footsteps enter the room midway through May's questions, but she kept her focus toward the weapon. She answered May halfheartedly, trying to recall how she had done this the first time.

"Yeah, when it shifted a minute ago, I could tell it was lighter,"

"Shush," May said quietly, and Skye assumed she was talking to whomever had just walked in. It was probably Hunter; when he wasn't with Bobbi, he was asking Skye questions about her powers.

This time, with the weight of a loaded weapon, it was a lot easier to imagine that it was a real danger. The gun rattled against the tabletop, the plastic pieces covering the barrel and the hammer snapping apart first. The barrel pulled back and the round inside flew out, and then very quickly the entire gun shook apart, even its smallest pieces clattering to the ground around the counter. The full clip that May had put in the gun fell to pieces as well, the bullets scattering the countertop.

Skye took a breath, lowered her hand, and grinned.

" _Wow_."

Skye twisted around quickly, surprised to find that it was Coulson who had entered the room. He was staring at her in awe.

"Uh. Hey, Director." Skye said nervously. Through some strange circumstances, Coulson had never actually seen her use her powers before, not since the uncontrollable earthquakes at the base.

"You've done that before?" May asked, walking toward the remains of the gun and picking some pieces of the metal up.

"Yeah," Skye said, embarrassed, "on my own gun. I was nervous." She shrugged, eyeing Coulson carefully.

His face was lit up in a way she hadn't seen in a while, at the very least since before his injury. He stared at her, and when she hesitantly smiled, he slipped by her to stand next to May, picking up one of the bullets.

"Like I said, pick a gun that's not a huge loss if it doesn't work anymore after this..." She trailed off, unsure about how they would take this. May has already experienced first-hand what Skye's powers could do, but with this sort of focus... theoretically, she could tear someone apart from the inside out. She _could_ be dangerous, if she wanted to be.

"That is so cool," Coulson breathed, combing through the pieces of metal. "You took it completely apart - anything that's not welded together is dismantled. Some of this stuff would take a tiny screwdriver," He looked at Skye again, and Skye saw May roll her eyes.

"We don't have a lot of extra guns lying around, so no more demonstrations," She said, as if she knew Coulson was about to ask. "That is... incredible, Skye," May said sincerely, "Really. And I'm glad you're on our side." She tossed a bullet toward Skye, and Skye caught it. "You should work with FitzSimmons, see what else you can do like this." She looked down at the counter again. "You're cleaning it up." She smirked at Skye as she walked past, leaving the two of them alone.

Skye played with the bullet against her palm while she tried to avoid Coulson's gaze.

"I've never seen you use your powers before," Coulson said quietly, "Not since you've learned how to control them. What else can you do?" He sounded like a kid talking to Captain America... or maybe just Coulson talking to Captain America. Skye couldn't keep the excited grin off of her face, and tried to be aloof as she said,

"I caused an avalanche." She quickly added, "Uninhabited mountaintop, of course. No casualties." Coulson didn't seem worried about that, though.

"Skye," The way he was looking at her, like he was immensely proud and in awe and curious all at once, made her feel simultaneously more confident and more uneasy. Confident about her powers and how he perceived them, uneasy about the feeling curling in her stomach.

A feeling she hadn't felt since she had first grown close with Miles.

"Yes, well," She spoke hastily when he didn't say anything else, moving around him to gather what was left of the gun into a pile, "I've got to clean this up and take it to Mack to see if it's salvageable. No more demonstrations, May said so." Skye shrugged, moving to get a small box to slide everything into. When she turned back toward the counter Coulson was picking up the pieces that had fallen to the ground, putting them on the counter with everything else. He looked a bit disappointed, but kept his lips closed.

"Thanks for the help, boss," Skye smiled at him as she pushed everything into the box, holding it under one arm and turning to face him. "So..." She couldn't help but ask, "that didn't freak you out?"

"No." Coulson said, shaking his head, giving her a small smile in return. His eyes sparked with something, but he turned around and left the room without adding anything else. Skye frowned, still confused (by more than one thing), but walked out of the room not far behind him, heading in the opposite direction toward the garage.

 

 

_6._

Over the next few weeks, Skye started working with different objects, focusing her powers for different uses. Mack enjoyed creating complex metal contraptions with tiny little connections inside, just to watch her tear everything apart without actually ruining any of the components. Fitz was working on research for a compound that she _couldn't_ vibrate apart, but since her powers worked with the vibrations the object itself put out, he hadn't had any luck yet. When he had suggested Vibranium, Coulson had been the one to correct him.

"Vibranium _absorbs_ impacts, that doesn't mean that it doesn't create vibrations of its own. The substance still gives out a wavelength, even if its much less noticeable than other materials," Coulson had explained, and Simmons had looked at him with some surprise.

"Come on, Captain America's shield? Of course Director Coulson would know about Vibranium," Fitz muttered to her, turning back toward his computer. He was determined, and Skye was actually interested to see if he would find anything. At the very least, it would make her feel just a little better if her room was lined with the stuff, or something. She hadn't lost control in a long time, but she never trusted herself once she started dreaming. Especially the dreams that included Raina.

May continued to work with Skye's marksmanship and her hand-to-hand combat skills, but she had been discussing a lot lately if they could find a different sparring partner for Skye. Skye was concerned that she had actually ended up hurting May, but May insisted it was because she felt like Skye needed someone who could match her once she started incorporating her abilities. May wanted Skye to train more _with_ them, have them become more integral in her fighting style. It would keep her enemies on their toes; they wouldn't know what to expect. Skye understood that idea, agreed with it, but she refused to use her powers against any of her teammates.

Every now and then Coulson gave her a new lead for her Caterpillars project, but that was starting to become few and far between. Neither had a lot of opportunities away from other people to discuss the secret project, and they hadn't had time to contact any of the suspected Inhumans in weeks. The project was still mostly all on paper, and Skye wondered if she could start getting some physical work done; at least start working on a secret base, or something.

So, after a particularly grueling workout with May (and a long hot shower afterwards), Skye snuck her way up to Coulson's office, two mugs of coffee in hand. His door was open, and once she confirmed he was alone she shut the door behind her with her hip. He was leaning against the front edge of his desk, peering at a schematic pulled up in front of him from the black box. He raised his eyebrow curiously at Skye as she entered, gratefully accepting the hot coffee from her.

"I want to talk about our thing." Skye said seriously, without preamble. She brushed her still-damp hair away from her face before taking a drink of coffee.

"Our thing?" Coulson wondered, his voice oddly tight. He swallowed an alarming amount of coffee in one go, setting the mug down on the desk and standing to swipe his hand across the holoscreen.

"Yeah, you know," Skye dropped her voice conspiratorially, "The Caterpillars." She wiggled her fingers at him, and he furrowed his brow at her for a moment, before pushing away whatever he'd been working on and pulling up a file box.

"Project: Caterpillar. Authorization: Phil Coulson. Code: X-Ray 2896." He spoke clearly. There was a short dinging noise, but nothing happened, and Coulson looked at Skye. He leaned over to tell her quietly, "It registers that I'm not alone. You need to authorize."

"Can't you?" Skye whispered back, then wondered why she was whispering.

"You're authorized for this file," He urged gently, nodding, and she glanced at him as she spoke up,

"Authorization: Skye... Johnson." Coulson nodded at her again, and she continued, "Code: ..." She didn't know they had code numbers. Did she have a code number of her own?

"Quake." Coulson said into her ear, so the program wouldn't pick up his voice.

" _Quake_?" Skye exclaimed, and there was another beeping noise before the file shifted and pages opened in front of them.

"Do you not like it? I heard Mack calling you Tremors and you didn't seem too fond of that one, so I tried to think of something different..." He sounded personally invested, like, he really wanted her to approve of it.

"I... It might grow on me," She told him, and he looked pleased, and focused his attention on the screen in front of them.

"I've been gathering data on the map, locations with dates and as much information on each person as we could find. In the past month, I've come across what I think is something we really need to look into, something I'm worried isn't a coincidence," Coulson explained, moving some files around and pulling up a world map, little orange lights spotting it in different areas.

There was a distinct grouping around the coastline of China, and when he zoomed in on the area, dates appeared next to each spot. There were just less than a dozen or so, but the fact they were all very near one another was the strange thing. And as Skye read the dates, she saw why Coulson was so concerned.

"All of these were first discovered within the same month?" Skye wondered. She tapped on one of the dots, opening its specific file. "Are these dates your discovery, or the general public?"

"The public. Each date is the earliest recording I could find in electronic data records." Coulson told her.

"There are so many here... do you think a crystal is involved?" Skye asked, worried. Coulson sighed quietly.

"I'm not certain, but it looks that way." He spoke unfortunately. "However, there haven't been an unusual amount of deaths in the area. Nothing too strange, other than these guys."

"So... contained contact, then? But..." Skye thought out loud as she closed files and opened others. "All of these sightings don't seem connected to one another. While they're all on the coast, most of them are miles apart. Even the ones that seemed to happen on the same day, they're hundreds of miles apart."

"I have a theory, but I don't like it." Coulson told her, and she looked at him. "Someone is tracking these people. They somehow confirm that they are Inhumans, and then somehow get them exposed to the mist. And with the speed that this has suddenly started happening..."

"You think someone is building an army." Skye realized quietly, her eyes widening as she looked back at the map.

"It's crossed my mind," He said gravely, and they stood next to one another in front of the map, wondering which step to take next would be best.

 

 

_7._

In the wake of discovering a possible army-in-the-making, Coulson agreed with Skye's idea to start working on a base for their project. Her designs included multiple "honeycomb rooms", designed to look less like the one on the plane and more homey like the "Hulk-House" she'd stayed at. Her primary goal was a place where Inhumans would feel comfortable enough to learn and train, without the worry of injuring anyone else.

He had taken care of hiring the people and resources to help her - she found out later that a lot of them were the same people who helped him with refurbishing the Helicarrier. Because of this, she trusted them to keep the secret of what they were doing. At the very least, they didn't know more than they needed to do their job, and while she was sure some of them were probably suspicious, they never asked unnecessary questions.

She was at the base for the next few days, clearing out old storage rooms, making sure the places they were done rebuilding were livable. It was located in North Dakota, about fifty miles from the Canadian border. Coulson let Skye use Lola, so they didn't have to worry about the team asking too many questions. She just told them she was going to visit her father again for a few days, and she'd keep in touch. It was surprisingly easy, and she was actually a little disappointed by that.

Coulson didn't have it so easy, when he managed to find time to meet her there. Koenig got him some flights through to a small airfield about an hour from the base, and when Skye drove out to meet him, the plane he landed in on looked like it could only carry ten or so people. Even so, he stepped onto the tarmac suit and all, cool as a cucumber, duffel bag in hand. Skye got out of car and leaned against it as she waited for him to approach, his own aviators resting on her nose. He looked amused as he neared her.

"Taking care of her?" He asked as he tossed his bag into the back. He slid his hand along Lola's paint; Skye had made sure to give the car a good wash before he landed.

"You bet," Skye grinned, standing straight and moving back to the driver's side. Coulson gave her an amused look across the car before they got in.

"I was asking Lola," He said loftily, and Skye laughed. She felt his eyes on her as she drove them off of the tarmac and onto the main road, heading further south into the state.

"How was the flight?" She asked over the rushing wind, shifting gears as if she'd been driving the car for years.

"Ugh, small plane, small leg room." Coulson complained, stretching his feet out in front of him.

"Well, you'll like the place I've set up for us on base. Basically got the Director's pad all finished up," Skye told him, glancing over at him now and then as she spoke. "It's not as big as your office on the Playground, of course, but I think you'll like it. Plenty of leg room." She grinned at him, and he raised his eyebrow at her.

"For us?" He repeated, and she pursed her lips.

"You've got the biggest living quarters, I've got the next biggest." She corrected, hoping her face wasn't as red as it felt. "They aren't swanky by any means, but we both get our own bathrooms."

"Ah," He sighed, leaning his head back against the seat and closing his eyes. "A shower would be excellent. But I'll take the number two room. This project is yours, this base is yours. You deserve the big room." He spoke as if it wasn't a big deal, but Skye eased off the gas a little and looked at him.

"You're the _Director_ , Coulson. Doesn't that mean you always have some spot designated for you in every SHIELD facility?" She pointed out, and he laughed ruefully.

"Not me. I'd rather be as inconspicuous as possible." He told her, and she shook her head, looking back toward the road.

"That surprises me none. Well," She glanced at his relaxed form, "I'm taking you up on that offer before you think better of it and change your mind." He smiled.

The drive took less than an hour, with Skye driving and the empty roads, and the sun was only just beginning to set when they neared a tiny twenty-four hour diner about ten minutes from the base. It looked like a run-down tin can, but Skye had eaten here a few times before already, and knew it had decent food and low prices.

She parked and shut the engine off, and Coulson was still out against the seat, his head lolled toward her a bit. She pulled the sunglasses off her face and tucked them in the collar of her shirt, reaching out to shake his shoulder.

"Hey, Coulson."

He jerked awake, his eyes scanning the area before they finally rested on the diner in front of them. She smirked at his tousled hair, and as she smoothed it down for him, he turned to look at her.

"Dinner?" He wondered, his voice a little croaky from sleep. He leaned his head against her hand, but the movement was so small she wasn't sure if she just imagined it.

"Yeah," She said with a small smile, pulling her hand back to herself and taking the keys out of the ignition. He cleared his throat and shifted his shoulders, getting some of the kinks out before getting out of the car. She locked it up before following him into the building, smiling at him as he held the door open for her. The knot of his tie was still loose from when he'd pulled at it before falling asleep, and his face was still slack and sleepy-looking from having just woken up. She grinned to herself as she stepped into the diner, biting her lip to hide the smirk before he saw it.

"Daisy! Good to see you. Your spot is open," A waitress was attending to an old couple at the only occupied booth in the place - another thing Skye liked about this diner, it was never busy.

"Thanks, Sarah," Skye smiled easily at the other woman, sliding into a booth next to one of the front windows, facing the door. "Sorry, habit," She said to Coulson. "Wanna switch sides?" His back was now to the door, but he surprisingly didn't seem to mind.

"I trust you," He said to her, which made her feel way more light-hearted than necessary. "Daisy?" She shrugged.

"It's a good cover," She replied, sliding the container of sugar packets over and pulling them all out, organizing them in front of her.

"Here you go," Sarah placed two menus in front of them, paying particular interest toward Coulson. "What can I get you two to drink? Coffee?"

"I would love some," Coulson said, and Sarah smiled.

"Sure thing, sweetie. Your usual, Daisy?" She asked, and Skye nodded.

"Thanks, Sarah." She said, and Sarah gave her a look before glancing obviously toward Coulson, and then walking behind the bar to get their drinks.

"Come here often?" Coulson teased, sitting back and watching Skye straighten out the sugar packets.

"Maybe," She challenged him, "Just wait until you try the pie. I know it's totally stereotypical - but you'll want to come here for every meal after you've had it." Coulson chuckled, relaxing further into the seat, shifting the sling slightly on his shoulder. Skye eyed him for a moment before carefully saying, "If that thing's uncomfortable, you could take it off. I don't mind."

His jaw clenched as he kept his eyes toward the window. A long beat past and Skye figured she'd made him uncomfortable, so she focused back on her sugar packets.

"Thank you, but I'm okay." He finally said, and just as she looked back at him Sarah arrived with their coffee, Skye's with a shot of caramel in the bottom.

"Know what you want to eat?" Sarah asked, and Coulson indicated Skye order first. Once Sarah had both their orders down, she disappeared toward the kitchen.

"She keeps calling me sweetie. She's gotta be at least ten or fifteen years younger than me," Coulson sounded a bit miffed, and Skye relaxed some. Maybe he wasn't as embarrassed about his arm as he used to be.

"She calls everyone sweetie," Skye shrugged, starting to slip the packets back into the container, organized and perfectly aligned. "But, if you really want her number, I could get it for you." Coulson spluttered into his mug and gave Skye a look. Skye grinned cheekily at him as she unwrapped her silverware, putting the spoon in her coffee and the napkin in her lap.

"So what's your usual?" Coulson wondered, watching her stir her coffee.

"A bit of caramel in the bottom. They don't do fancy coffee drinks, this is the caramel they use for their pies, but she makes an exception for me," Skye smiled to herself, obviously touched by the gesture, and Coulson smiled softly.

"I imagine most people do," He teased lightly, and she was very proud of herself that she managed to keep the smile on her face as she thought back to his Index file.

"So, how long are you here for? I saw that you brought a bag. How did you manage explaining your absence to the team?" Skye asked.

"I told May I was meeting with Maria, catching up, discussing everything that had gone down with the Avengers." Coulson explained, sliding down in the seat a little so he was more relaxed. His knees brushed against Skye's, and while she was very aware of it, she didn't shift out of the way. She didn't push back against him, either; she simply allowed that bit of contact between them, without acknowledging it. He didn't acknowledge it either, and didn't pull away.

"Maria Hill? Works for Stark, used to work for Fury? You two buddies? How did I miss that?" Skye wondered, and Coulson's smile was carefully devoid of any revealing emotion.

"We've known each other for a long time." He said, clearly hiding something, and Skye bit.

"Known each other? As in, _known_ each other?" She leaned forward, her elbows on the edge of the table, "I know how you are with your _old_ _contacts_ , Coulson," Before she could dig anymore, Sarah arrived with their plates.

"Wow, that was fast," Coulson complimented, and Sarah smiled widely.

"I see the charm," She said to Skye as she placed her plate in front of her, walking away as Coulson eyed her incredulously. He looked back at Skye and Skye looked down at the table, reaching over for the pepper.

"We should eat up. I don't want to get back too long after dark." Skye suggested, dumping pepper over her eggs. Coulson had ordered pancakes, which surprised her, but what surprised her more was the noise he made after he bit into the thing after dousing it in maple syrup. She looked up at him quickly, her eyes wide, and watched him close his and a smile slide across his face.

"I haven't had pancakes like this..." He trailed off, savoring the bite, continuing after he swallowed, "In a _long_ time." He looked right at her when he opened his eyes, and she blinked.

"They're... pancakes." Skye said dumbly, her forkful of eggs still paused midair between her plate and her mouth. He shook his head, taking another bite of pancake.

"You've been coming here for how long, and you haven't ordered the pancakes yet? Next time, you're getting these. And that's an order." He said seriously, enjoying the second bite just as much as he had the first.

Skye focused on her own plate for most of the rest of the meal, fairly certain that she would never be able to get the image of Coulson's expression out of her head.

 

 

_8._

_"Coulson," Skye gasped, her back arching off of the bed as his tongue did things to her that she never imagined him doing._

_**Ah, so you've finally realized.** _

_Raina's voice sounded outside of the moment, and even as Skye's consciousness started to fight to wake up, to pull out of the dream, dream-Skye was still moaning and grasping at dream-Coulson's head, buried between her legs._

_"Oh, Coulson, yes!"_

_Skye felt outside of her body as she watched what was happening, unable to stop it, both embarrassed and a bit turned on by the image her subconscious was able to create._

_**Impressive detail.** _

_Raina's slimy, amused compliment gave Skye a little more umph and finally -_

When she woke up this time, her inhalation of breath was hard and dry. She started coughing, scrambling out of her sheets to get to the bathroom, getting trapped and thudding to the floor. Cursing under her breath, she hurriedly tried to untangle herself from the sheet, still coughing, like she was choking on something.

He must've been up, because he burst through her door before she was even completely free of the sheet, dropping awkwardly to his hand and knees in front of her and pushing her hair out of her face.

"Water," She got out before he could ask, "I just need water," God, she sounded like a smoker - and on top of that he'd just brushed his fingers through her sweaty hair, and she was trapped like a drunk mummy in her own bedsheets. In her pajamas.

Coulson had got back to his feet surprisingly quickly, filled a cup of water from her bathroom sink, and dropped back onto the floor next to her, managing not to spill a drop. He propped his back against her bed, setting the glass down for a moment as he pulled her up against the bed next to him, helping her sit up against it as he reached for the glass. She was too flustered to argue with him when he pressed the edge of the glass against her lips, and she drank gratefully. She pulled her head back a little and he moved the glass away, setting it down where she could reach it. She coughed lightly, and he insinuated his arm between her and the bed, rubbing her back a little.

"Okay?" He asked, brow furrowed in concern, and Skye finally took a deep breath and focused on her surroundings. Particularly, her boss, who seemed to only be wearing shorts and a t-shirt. Her boss she had just been having a very intense, very inappropriate dream about.

She grabbed the water again as she spluttered, taking a long drink and doing the breathing exercises May had taught her.

"What happened?" Coulson asked urgently, and she sighed and dropped her head back against the edge of the mattress. She set the almost-empty glass on the floor next to her and jerked at the sheet so that it wasn't as tight around her legs.

"I had a ... dream and I woke up and kinda tangled myself up," Skye muttered, embarrassed on multiple levels. "Started coughing, and in my haste to get some water, tripped myself. It was stupid, really. But thanks for helping me out."

Coulson nodded, relaxing and smiling carefully as he got to his feet, holding his hand out to help her up. Thinking she was good to go, she took his hand, but as soon as she was vertical she realized the sheet was still too twisted around her feet, and she toppled into him.

"Dammit," She muttered against his chest, but he laughed, wrapping his arm around her and only stumbling back slightly. When she angrily shook her foot free from the fabric, her body pushed against his a little and he grunted. "Sorry," She said distractedly, thinking she'd hurt him, doing her best to ignore the way his body felt against hers, the way her body was responding.

It didn't take her very long to realize his body was responding, too.

She bit her lip, getting her footing and patting his arm, stepping back until his arm fell from around her back, not letting him know that she had noticed.

"I, uh, should get back to bed. We've got a lot of cleaning to do tomorrow. Thanks for the water." She took another step back, wrapping the sheet more securely around her torso, as if she really needed to cover up.

"Of course. See you in the morning," He said gently, appearing very calm despite the fact his injured arm was only covered in a bandage, and he was sporting enough of a hard-on that she had felt it against her. He shut her door quietly as he left, and she let out a long breath as she collapsed back onto her bed.

It was the middle of the night and he'd just had a half-dressed woman pressed up against him, so she didn't worry too much about _why_ he'd had a hard-on - but she was worried about how her subconscious would deal with it. Her dream had been bad enough _without_ that bit of sensory knowledge. And she hoped he wasn't worrying about it too much.

She picked the glass up off the floor and set it onto the bedside table, getting back into the bed and sprawling out. She stared at the ceiling for what felt like a long time before she started to fall back asleep.

_**You two are absolutely ridiculous.** _

_Raina's voice sounded disappointed, but Skye was too tired to argue with her._

 

 

_9._

When it was time to head back to the Playground, Skye and Coulson both decided it would be easier if he just accompanied her in Lola. The last couple of nights had past without any more awkward occurrences, so Skye felt pretty comfortable about spending a few hours in confined space with him.

She'd put the hard top back on so they wouldn't have to deal with hours of rushing wind. She had the music on one of her favorite stations (thank God for Mack and for Sirius satellite radio), though the volume was low enough that they could easily speak over it if they needed to. Once they determined their story - Coulson had a layover in a town that was on Skye's route, so she picked him up on her way back from visiting Cal - Coulson seemed content to sit in silence.

After about a half an hour, he shifted in his seat, and Skye saw from the corner of her eye him glance over at her. For some reason he appeared nervous, and while Skye tried to figure out whether it was important enough she speak up, he unclipped his seat belt and then unclipped the strap that was securing the sling across his shoulder. He carefully pulled it over his head in the small space and slipped his arm free from it, sighing in relief as he sat back against his seat, resting his wrapped arm in his lap. He tossed the sling onto the floor by his feet and pulled the belt back across, shifting comfortably against the seat cushion.

"Better?" Skye asked, raising her eyebrow a little. She knew she was making a May face. She needed to stop doing that.

"Better," Coulson admitted, though it was obvious he was still a little nervous. Skye reached over and rested her hand just above his elbow, wrapping her fingers loosely around his tricep. He flinched but didn't pull his arm away from her, and she stroked her thumb across the fabric of his suit jacket. It was really soft, softer than she expected it to be.

She didn't say anything about it, simply shifted so that she could drive comfortably with one hand, keeping her other connected to him. He relaxed eventually, even reaching over and placing his hand on top of hers for a bit.

\-----

"Skye! Director Coulson? Didn't expect the both of you to return together," Mack greeted them in the garage, not hiding the curious look on his face. Skye and Coulson each got their bags and smiled at him as if nothing was amiss.

"Turns out he had a layover on my route home, so I picked him up on the way," Skye replied, and Coulson added with an easygoing smile,

"Lola has better leg room."

"Oh, I bet," Mack supplied, a bit coy, as they walked toward the interior of the base. Coulson gave him a confused look, but Mack went back to the engine he'd been working on.

"What's that supposed to mean..." Coulson muttered as he and Skye scanned their ID's. Skye nudged his arm as they neared the labs.

"You know Mack, he's suspicious by nature. That's why we like him, remember?" She teased, and Coulson laughed, drawing the attention of a few of the lab technicians. Apparently it was shocking for them to see their Director in such good spirits, because whatever they were saying caught the attention of Simmons rather quickly, and she looked up to see the two of them and gave them a big smile.

"Good to see you both back!" She called out, giving a little wave before returning to her project. Coulson gave Skye a look.

"Why is everyone making it sound like we were on vacation, or something?" He wondered, and as they turned the corner, Skye tried not to say her thoughts out loud.

Because they probably _did_ think they were on vacation. People suspected the two of them having a secret, but it wasn't a secret base of operations - it was a secret _relationship_. Skye was realizing this more and more each day, particularly now. Nothing cemented it like the quirky grin on Koenig's face as he greeted them around the next corner.

"Hel-lo you two," he smiled widely - Skye couldn't tell whether it was Sam or Billy, "Good to see you back. Have a good trip? How were the seats, Director?"

Coulson gave Skye a 'see what I mean' look before replying to him, and Skye bit her lip to hold back her snicker.

"The seats were far better on my return trip, when I could ride in my own car. C'mon guys, can't we afford first class at least once in a while?" Coulson complained, more serious than whiny.

"Of course, I'll look into that for your next trip." Koenig looked at Skye and back at Coulson. "You know, sir, booking two first class tickets is always more difficult, though, and..." Coulson sighed, walking around Koenig as he kept talking, and Skye moved quickly to keep up.

"That's all, Koenig," Coulson called behind him, "Please send Agent May to my office for a debriefing."

"Of course, sir!" Koenig called to them. "It's good to see you in high spirits again!"

"What is with everybody all of a sudden?" Coulson shook his head, and Skye chose again not to answer him. Well, not directly.

"You look good." She blurted, then pursed her lips. Coulson raised a dubious eyebrow.

"For a one-armed man who hardly ever sleeps because he's trying to keep his organization from falling apart," He snorted, and Skye shook her head, speaking firmly now,

"You look good _as_ a one-armed man who hardly ever sleeps because he's trying to keep the world a safer place."

Coulson stopped in the middle of the hall, and Skye took a couple steps before she realized it and stopped as well, turning back to look at him. He looked surprised, and touched.

"You always have a way of seeing things better than I do." He said appreciatively, and she hid her embarrassment behind a coy smile.

"That's why I'm team captain," she teased, and he smiled at her. They were standing there grinning at one another when Hunter appeared, not expecting to see them but excited that he did.

"My two favorite bosses!" He exclaimed, throwing his arm around Skye's shoulder, jarring her back into awareness. "Sorry," He said like he wasn't sorry at all, "did I interrupt a little moment going on? My bad. Glad we've got Mom and Dad back!" He even gave Coulson a thumbs up before he hurried off down the hall, probably to go gossip with FitzSimmons, or Mack.

"Mom and Dad?" Coulson muttered under his breath, not looking at Skye. She sighed and shook her head, gesturing that they continue down the hall.

"He's probably drunk. We should meet May," She reminded him, and sent up a silent prayer of thanks when Coulson seemed to put away Hunter's weirdness and focus on what story he would need to tell May.

"You know..." Coulson hesitated before leading the way up the stairs to his office, and Skye waited patiently behind him, wondering what he was considering. "It might be easiest if we make the team think we _were_ on vacation." Skye laughed.

"You really think they'd believe that? You and me, probably the most workaholic people on this base, taking a vacation?" She laughed again, and he managed to look affronted.

"Even May has taken vacation time, and no one thought _that_ was ridiculous." He argued, and Skye set her bag down.

"That was some very particular circumstances, Coulson. We'd just survived stopping a _war_. Plus, she had a lot of making up to do with her husband, apparently." Skye pointed out, and Coulson set his bag down as well.

" _We_ survived that, too! I got my arm cut off, and you... you went through hell. We deserve a vacation too, don't we?"

"Are you saying you'd like to take vacation time?" Skye asked, and he shook his head, folding his arm across his chest over his sling, then realizing how awkward that felt, and put his hand on his hip.

"I'm _saying_ that's what other people expect. We should use it to our advantage. And it'd be a lot easier explaining our coinciding absences."

"Other people expect you and I to go on vacation together?" Skye said pointedly, knowing she was digging into territory she probably shouldn't be digging into right here and now. He lost a bit of his gusto and shifted his weight on his feet.

"Well, maybe not, but, is it really that unbelievable?" He grouched, a dark look on his face, and Skye had a feeling this argument had just grown a whole lot more serious.

"Okay, we'll try it your way," She said a little more calmly, trying to diffuse the situation. "See how it works next time. Okay?" Just as long as they stopped this conversation right where it was. "We can try it with May right now, if you want." She picked up her bag as yet another sign the conversation was over, and Coulson nodded, looking a little surprised. He took a deep breath in, then nodded again, and picked up his bag.

He led the way up the stairs, but when they neared his office, he pushed the door open with his foot and tossed his bag in before wrapping his arm around Skye's waist, tugging her close and pressing his nose into her hair as they stepped through the doorway.

To say she was surprised would put it mildly, but according to the expression on May's face, Skye wasn't the only one.

"Well, that explains it." May said dryly from the middle of the room. Coulson froze, slipping his arm away quickly, standing up straight. "Next time don't bother with creating a cover though, Coulson. This one sucked."

"I..." He trailed off, looking a bit ashamed as he glanced at Skye. She gave him a wide-eyed stare, a look that insisted he should have warned her before he had done that.

"Not much to report, it was quiet here. Bobbi's recovery is going better than expected; should she be interested, we could probably use her in field operations again." May explained, holding a file up and then tossing it on Coulson's desk. "Everything's in there." She stepped toward him and her face softened. "You look good, Phil. Glad the two of you got this worked out." She left them alone, then, and they both just stood there for a couple beats.

"Well," Coulson sighed in relief, "I think it'll work." He picked up his bag, making eye contact with Skye to see a strange expression cross her face.

"Good to know. I'm going to go unpack. Let me know if there's anything in that report that concerns me." Skye said quickly, hefting her bag over her shoulder and leaving his office.

He stared at the closing door, wondering why Skye had seemed almost disappointed.

 

 

_10._

They didn't even have to act any differently than normal - perhaps he would rest his hand against her arm for a little longer than usual, or she would brush her fingers across his cheek when "they thought they were alone" (but in reality knew someone was watching). They never even got close to kissing (other than one another's cheek, and the one somewhat strange time where he kissed her fingers), but everyone took the bait.

They stopped talking about Project Caterpillar in his office, in fear that the place was bugged by Weaver, or May, or worse - Hunter. Surprisingly, Coulson was the one who came up with their rendezvous points - a hidden room (always one that was already known by other agents), a supply closet, one of the SUV's. Usually they weren't interrupted, but the couple times they were, they just mussed up their clothes a bit and pretended they got caught making out. Skye overheard Hunter talking with Bobbi about it during breakfast one day.

"Mack said he caught them in _our_ spot, making out! Can't they find their own spot?!" Hunter complained, and Bobbi raised her eyebrow speculatively. She wasn't entirely sold on Coulson and Skye's relationship - only because no one every _actually_ caught them doing anything.

"Did he? I mean, were they _actively_ making out, or did they just _look_ like they were making out?" Bobbi asked, and Hunter gave her a weird look. Skye stayed in the hall just around the corner, spying on the conversation.

"Why in the world does that matter? I'm saying we're getting pushed out! We need to stake our claim!"

"Technically, considering Coulson is the director and _owns_ everything SHIELD, I think they have claim on the SUV's." Bobbi muttered. "But what I'm saying is," She said more seriously, "I'm not so sure they're in a relationship. We're spies. No matter how well people hide it, it's obvious when someone's been getting laid. Even May has been more relaxed since Andrew has been around more often."

Hunter frowned, thinking to himself for a moment.

"Maybe they only do the serious stuff off base. You know, because of Skye's powers. Maybe she _loses control_ -"

" _Ugh_ , Hunter, _not what I meant._ " Bobbi pushed at him, and he grinned widely.

Skye wasn't sure whether she was pale, or bright red, and considered interrupting them and punching Hunter.

"Look," Bobbi was saying, "They are both _excellent_ tactical thinkers. It wouldn't surprise me if this was some sort of elaborate cover for something,"

"Oh, come on," Hunter sounded annoyed now, "don't tell me you're still spouting off what that idiot Gonzales was saying."

" _No_ , nothing like that," Bobbi assured him, "I just... there hasn't been sufficient evidence. We're all seeing what we _expect_ to see, not what's actually there."

Shit, Bobbi was really onto them. Skye needed to tell Coulson about this, but she would have to pass them to get to his office.

"Alright," Hunter said amiably, "how about a wager? If I get _sufficient evidence_ of the canoodling, you owe me fifty bucks."

"Make it a hundred." Bobbi raised her eyebrow. "And I get it if I end up being right."

"Deal." Hunter said, and Skye waited another five minutes before shaking her shoulders and strolling into the kitchen.

"Skye!" Hunter sounded a little worried, "I thought you were upstairs with our Director."

"Headed that way now," Skye told him. "What's up?" He looked relieved, and she pretended not to notice, feeling Bobbi's scrutinizing gaze on her.

"Nothing, nothing. Breakfast. If you haven't eaten yet, ask him to come on down. There's lots of pancakes." Hunter said, relaxing back in his chair. Skye swallowed at the thought of Coulson eating pancakes, and managed to smile at Hunter.

"I'll check." She said, and walked calmly up the stairs toward Coulson's office. Thankfully he was alone, and she stepped right up to his desk before speaking quietly and urgently, "We have a problem." He looked up quickly, alarmed at her tone, and closed the file he was looking at.

"SHIELD, or ...?" He asked, and she pursed her lips.

" _You and me._ " She said, and he looked uncomfortable for a second.

"Let me put some music on," He said before standing and moving toward his record player, putting something loud and jazzy on. He turned back toward her and indicated she stand with him in the middle of the room. "I'm not one hundred percent sure whether the bugs are just mics or cameras as well, but just in case somebody walks in, anyway," Coulson explained quietly, holding her close against him and moving them gently to the music.

Skye quickly caught on, holding onto his hand and wrapping her arm around his waist, their bodies close so they could speak into one another's ears. Coulson had started letting Skye temporarily tailor his suits so he could go without the sling, and there wouldn't be a lot of extra fabric hanging off of his arm. Feeling his entire body against her was a little distracting, and she tried to keep her focus.

"Bobbi is seriously suspecting we're just a cover," Skye began.

"We _are_ just a cover," Coulson quickly put in, and she frowned at the way he jumped on the defense, but continued,

"She's made a bet with Hunter that if he can't find actual evidence of our relationship, then her theory is possible. If he doesn't find that evidence, he might start agreeing with her, and then they'll probably start digging..." Skye trailed off, and Coulson squeezed her hand in assurance.

"So we need to stage something for him to find." Coulson acknowledged calmly, his mind in mission mode. Skye knew, though, that if they did something on the level that Hunter was looking for, she wouldn't be thinking of it as a mission. And she really doubted Coulson would, either, but he had yet to admit anything or show any evidence that what they were doing was having a real affect on him. She knew it was, but he needed to admit it. She wasn't going to take their relationship a step further unless he stepped with her - otherwise she was afraid they would lose what they already had.

"Yes. Probably within the next couple of days," Skye said.

"Not too soon - otherwise it'll look too coincidental."

"Yeah." Skye agreed.

"The SUV? It's one of the most public places." Coulson's suggestion was rather immediate, and Skye pulled her head back to look at him. He looked a bit sheepish, and said, "I've considered this scenario coming up."

"You've considered us having sex?" Skye couldn't help but ask, surprised, and he pinched his lips together, looking away from her eyes and over her shoulder. He slipped his hand from hers and across her back, pulling her against him again.

"I've considered us needing to make it _look_ like we're having sex," He muttered between his teeth, and it was incredibly difficult to suppress the shiver that ran down her body. She managed, thankfully, because he definitely would have noticed.

"Right, yes, of course," Skye said quickly, hoping her voice didn't give away her breathlessness. All she could think about was the last time their bodies were pressed together like this, they'd both been in their pajamas, and he'd had a hard-on, and it had all felt rather _nice_ -

"Not the SUV." Skye said quickly, interrupting her own thoughts. "That's way too public - we'll look like we _wanted_ to get caught. Finding a place to make out for a few minutes is one thing, but I don't think you or I would be so flippant to have sex just _anywhere_."

Coulson hummed in agreement (the sound vibrating through her whole body and also feeling pretty great), and they continued shifting their feet to the music as they thought for a few minutes.

"If only we still had the Bus. My office there would be perfect..." Coulson thought out loud, and Skye was grateful that he couldn't see her close her eyes tightly, silently repeating the mantra ' _fake_ sex' to herself.

"What about my training room?" Skye suggested once she got a hold of her thoughts. "One morning after May and I finish sparring. I could hang around after she leaves, you could slip in, it goes from there..."

" _Word choice._ " Coulson hissed, and Skye was bewildered for a second, until she realized what she had said, and then she smirked. She _knew_ it. Before she could pretend to apologize (no way would she apologize for getting a real reaction out of him), he continued talking. "I'm not sure if I would ever agree to meet you to have sex on a bunch of sweaty mats. _But_ , if we were sparring, perhaps we could get Hunter to spy us in a questionable hold? One that could easily be misconstrued..." He seemed to be having some trouble keeping things focused, as well.

"You mean, like, me flat on my back and you straddling me?" Skye wondered innocently, and Coulson stopped their dance. He just stood there, though, breathing against her ear, and she grinned as she said, "Or have _you_ on your back and me on top," He sucked in a breath and let go of her, stepping back.

"Sounds good." He said tightly, turning toward the record player and turning the volume down. "I'll meet you on Thursday for a bit of sparring practice after your session with May." He spoke facing the record player, looking at the wall.

Skye smirked, then bit her lip to hide it. Thursday was three days away, which seemed like a safe enough time between Hunter and Bobbi's conversation, and Hunter finding the evidence he needed. Skye left without saying anything, shutting the door carefully behind her.

"Heya, Skye, what's the verdict? Join us for breakfast?" Hunter wondered when she entered the kitchen, a plate of syrupy pancakes in front of him. Bobbi raised an eyebrow over her mug of coffee. Skye knew her face was flushed and she seemed a little jumpy; she used that to her advantage.

"No, uh, I think I'm gonna take a shower first. Pretty rough training day with May, this morning. Go ahead and eat without me." She walked to the door and then added in a lighter tone, "Save me some!" She heard Hunter snort with laughter as she went into the hallway.

"Betting with that look on her face, that's gonna be one cold shower!"

"Shut up, Hunter."

\-----

Thursday came a lot faster than Skye was prepared for, and May could sense her nervousness during their session. When she had her pinned to the ground yet again, May frowned and stood up before Skye even tapped out.

"What's got you so distracted today? I haven't been able to pin you this easily in months." May said, wiping her face off with a towel and tossing one toward Skye. Skye got to her feet, embarrassed, and wiped down as well.

"Sorry, just, I don't know." Skye frowned, and opted on the truth. "Coulson is just... I don't want to screw it up." She looked at May, and May's gaze softened, though she sighed a little.

"I'm guessing you've never had something quite this serious, huh?" May said companionably, and Skye shook her head. "Well, he loves you Skye. I've known him for a long time, and he's always been very serious about his relationships. I'm sure that can be a bit overwhelming,"

"It's not." Skye interrupted quickly. "I mean, it's certainly different than any other relationship I've had," still all true, "but I'm not scared by it. I'm scared of ruining it."

Skye didn't see Coulson standing in the doorway, a soft look of surprise on his face. May didn't give it away, either.

"It'll take a lot to push him away from you, Skye." May assured her, picking up her water-bottle and slinging her towel over her shoulder. "He's proved that a lot in the past two years, don't you think?" Skye nodded, taking a deep breath. "Talk with him about your concerns. For both your sakes and for everyone else's. I don't want to see you this distracted again." May warned her carefully.

"Thanks, May," Skye said, and May gave her a small smile before walking out, slipping by Coulson with nothing other than a warning look.

"Skye," Coulson said softly, approaching her in the center of the room, and she jumped, schooling her features before turning to look at him. She could tell immediately by his expression that he had heard at least some of what she said.

"I'm sorry," She started to apologize, and he shook his head, dropping his gym bag to the floor and wrapping his arm around her, tugging her against him. He pressed his cheek against hers, and she closed her eyes tightly, throwing her arms around him and letting go of her towel.

"I didn't know," He said quietly, "I didn't know. I thought the flirting was just us teasing, joking around, I never considered..." He turned his head and pressed his lips against her cheek.

"Is Hunter," Skye started to whisper, startling when his lips touched the corner of her mouth. He'd never done that before.

"I don't care about Hunter," Coulson said, and then kissed her.

It took Skye a second to process, but he was still kissing her, so she started kissing him back. He moaned and his hand slid up to the back of her neck, holding her as he tilted his head to kiss her more deeply.

There was no doubt in her mind that this wasn't real. Her imagination had _nothing_ on his real kissing ability.

There was a dull thud and a whispered "Shit!" that pulled Skye back into focus, remembering that Hunter was spying on them. She pretended she didn't hear it, sliding her hands out of Coulson's hair and onto his shoulders, pushing down. He frowned a little against her lips, clearly having forgotten their plan, and she pushed her hips against his.

"Oh," He breathed, relaxing his knees to bring them down onto the mats. He fell back and Skye carefully fell with him, straddling him and putting most of her weight on her knees and elbows. She couldn't stop running her fingers across the sides of his face, through his hair.

They started kissing again, open-mouthed, and Skye slid down just a little so her hips were aligned with his. His hard-on was unmistakable, this time, and when Skye rolled her hips again she realized that there wasn't much hindering it. She pulled her head back to catch her breath, giving him a look.

"Going commando?" She wondered. "What did you expect to happen during this sparring session?" She teased, and he stretched his neck to reach her chin, kissing her jaw and neck.

"Not much sparring, I hoped," He admitted against her skin. "Looks like I was right."

Skye couldn't help but slide her body against his again and he groaned, dropping his head back against the mats. His hand grasped her hip tightly, and she sat up, putting even more weight down on his hips. She rested her palms against his abdomen, feeling him more than leaning against him. He breathed heavily, and she made an impressed face as she felt his muscles move under her hands.

"I always said those suits hide too much," She said, her wording for the benefit of Hunter, who she could see from the corner of her eye. He was frozen in the doorway, and though she couldn't see his expression, she imagined it was probably one of shock.

Coulson chuckled, his eyes dark and wanting. His hand slipped up under her shirt, his fingers curling around her ribcage. She rolled her hips slowly on top of him, moving her hands up underneath his shirt as well, discovering the hair down his stomach and across his chest.

"Skye," He said breathlessly, pushing his hips upward to meet hers, and she realized rather suddenly that they were _actually_ dry humping in the middle of her training room, on top of mats that hadn't yet been cleaned of her or May's sweat.

She knew when they both started getting too close, and it took a lot of effort to stop, sliding down a bit so she was straddling his thighs instead of the now completely unavoidable bulge in his shorts. He released a short sigh, half in wanting and half with relief, and Skye licked her lips as she took in the expression on his face.

"I love you too, you know." She told him, and he opened his eyes to meet hers. His hand moved from her hip to the side of her face, his thumb stroking against her cheekbone.

"I loved you first." He said softly, the adoring smile on his lips a strange combination with the darkness of his eyes. Skye laughed a little, and he smiled wider. They grinned at one another for a moment, and his smile slowly dropped. He bit his bottom lip then, an uncomfortable look on his face. "Uh, maybe we should, go somewhere else?" He suggested, his leg muscles tensing under her but not pushing her away.

"Hm," Skye mused, leaning down to kiss his stomach where his shirt had ridden up. "Are you sure?" She kissed lower, just below his bellybutton, then his hip, and he sucked in a breath. His hand gripped her shoulder almost tightly, and she stopped to look up at him. "Do you want me to stop?" She asked seriously, two fingers tucked into the waistband of his shorts. He stared at her wide-eyed, licked his lips nervously, and shook his head vehemently.

"No," He said quickly, "No, I don't." She smiled and pulled the waistband down a little, kissing just underneath it, and his hand slid into her hair, gripping but not tugging. She moved her lips even lower, close enough now that her chin was brushing against his bulge, not quite freeing it, and there was a loud scrambling sound to her right.

She lifted her head to look toward the doorway, and Coulson turned his head to look as well. Hunter had disappeared, and taken any trace of his presence along with him. Coulson heaved a sigh of relief and dropped his head back against the mats. His hand was still in her hair, though he wasn't holding her quite as tightly as he had been. Skye still had her fingers curled around his waistband, his shorts pulled partially down.

When they made eye contact, his fingers tangled further into her hair, and she smiled a little.

"Can I?" She asked a little nervously.

"Please," He whispered, nodding, "please, Skye."

"Thank God," she replied just as breathlessly, pulling his shorts down further and pressing her lips against his skin.

* * *

 


End file.
